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3 | O akville B eaver | T hursday,O ctober 14,2021 insidehalton.com For a Free consultation call oakville: 905.842.2022 ToronTo: 416.644.3999 Denied Disabled Benefits? I canhelp. My teamof experienced lawyers can help youwith: •Disability Claims Short-TermDisability, long-TermDisability, CPP •Car accidents •Slip and Falls •Wrongful Dismissal Injured? I don't get paid unless I getYoumoneY. oFFiCeS in oakville and ToronTo eMail: sspadafora@slspc.ca Disability and EmploymEnt law Founded in 1991 Peter Watson MBA, CFP®, R.F.P., CIM®, FCSI Jennifer Watson MBA, CFP®, CIM® Accepting new clients. Please visit www.watsoninvestments.com to book a free consultation. Offering safe virtual meetings and e-signatures for new client onboarding. "Our clients enjoy talking about their retirement dreams and we enjoy helping them get there." Peter & Jennifer info@watsoninvestments.com (905) 842 -2100 The use of COVID-19 rapid antigen tests is not necessary at this time in Halton District School Board schools. "Asymptomatic testing is really valuable when case counts in the commu- nity are about 100 per 100,000; at this time in Hal- ton we are at 20 to 22 cases per 100,000, so our schools in Halton don't meet the criteria that is presently laid out with respect to the rapid antigen tests," said superintendent of educa- tion Terri Blackwell at the most recent meeting of the HDSB Oct. 6. At this point, added Blackwell, "rapid antigen tests have really low utility in our schools according to our public health unit. We do have lots of alternatives and effective strategies that have been working well to minimize our trans- mission." Like Halton region, oth- er health units do not in- tend on using the tests un- less there are significant criteria met, for example, where there's a school clo- sure and returning stu- dents could be tested to en- sure there are no leftover cases, said Blackwell. This news should come as reassurance to parents, said board chair Andrea Grebenc. "Trustees have been re- ceiving a lot of emails around rapid antigen tests from parents anxious to be able to contribute to stamping out, getting rid of COVID in the community. Hopefully, this provides some comfort to families that these rapid tests will be used when necessary," said Grebenc. TRUSTEES WANT COVID ADDED TO LIST OF DESIGNATED DISEASES HDSB trustees added their voices to a growing list of school boards re- questing that COVID-19 be added to the list of desig- nated diseases in the Im- munization of School Pu- pils Act. There is no mandatory COVID vaccination pro- gram for students at the present time; however, adding COVID-19 to the designated diseases list -- which includes tetanus, polio and diphtheria, among others -- might in- spire more people to get the vaccine to protect those who are unable to do so, wrote Grebenc in a let- ter to Minister of Health Christine Elliot and Minis- ter of Education Stephen Lecce. This addition would al- so provide "a mechanism for exemptions that in- cludes parental education on vaccination," states the letter, which will also be sent to Ontario's Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Kieran Moore. "Adding COVID as a designated disease does not make it truly mandato- ry, as in if you don't get the jab you can't come to school; it is if you don't get the jab, you get educated. It does layer on an education- al component if parents de- cide not to vaccinate their children. Right now that component is missing, and it allows parents to simply do nothing which enables hesitancy." If COVID-19 was a desig- nated disease, it would be the duty of parents to en- sure that their students fulfil the immunization schedule, added Oakville trustee Joanne Oliver in support. "That also, I believe, gives the right to public health to then verify that the vaccination has in fact taken place, as we see cur- rently being done with the sharing of records in terms of which students have not been vaccinated against the designated diseases. There's the ability for the medical officer of health, via the school board, to suspend them from the school system, so I think that that's actually a very effective tool." NEWS RAPID ANTIGEN TESTS NOT CURRENTLY REQUIRED AT HALTON PUBLIC SCHOOLS Low transmission rates and high vaccination rates mean rapid antigen testing is not required in HDSB schools. Graham Paine/Metroland ASYMPTOMATIC TESTING VALUABLE WHEN COMMUNITY CASE COUNTS ARE AT 100 PER 100,000 KATHY YANCHUS kyanchus@metroland.com